Kingdom Hearts 1 - The Journey
"You never know who you'll run into next." :—Tagline Kingdom Hearts 1 - The Journey is the first installment in the Kingdom Hearts Unlimited saga. Revolving around a young warrior, it details his adventures after his homeland is destroyed by sinister creatures known as the Darkhearts, and his attempts to restore his world and reunite with his friends. In the process, he meets many characters from classic Disney films. The main theme song for the story is "Simple and Clean", performed by Utada Hikaru. Chronologically, The Journey follows Birth of A New Era and takes place before The Chain of Memories, as well as partially overlapping with A Year of Misery. Story In the vast expanse of space spreading across the cosmos, there are many different worlds though they all share the same sky/sora. On a few worlds, a single dream is shared by a few disconnected youths: that one day they may all find someplace where they truly belong, and be able to sail to that promised land. But one day, a loathsome storm struck those worlds, and the youths found their lives irrevocably changed forever; one of the kids, a lad named Taran, even found a magical key-shaped sword appearing in his hand. Using their newfound powers, the children fought back against a horde of terrifying monsters that attacked their homes, but it was no use, and one by one the stars began to blink out from the sky... When Taran came to, he found himself in the bustling British city of Traverse Town, where he met up with the other youths: a mermaid turned human named Ariel, a demigod named Heracles, a street rat named Aladdin, and a giant, talking mouse named Mickey, who was accompanied by his own friends, a duck named Donald and a dognose named Goofy. They were all in search of a way to get back home and find their missing friends, hopefully completing their quests for glory and belonging, so they decided to team up and look for their mcguffins together. On their journey, the heroes encounter many strange and bizarre creatures, one of the more threatening being those of the Darkhearts, undead goblins born from the hearts of those who lost themselves to the dark side of the force. Those creatures, mindlessly programmed for the sole purpose of hunting down sources of dark energy and using it to multiply tenfold, are currently attempting to convert all they come across in their destructive path. Despite the obstacles faced by our heroes, they cross different worlds and meet up with new friends, many of whom tag along for the ride and form lasting bonds with the leading members. They also learn of an ancient prophecy concerning the key-shaped sword wielded by Taran, as it is said to be the sole means of closing the doors of each world from invading forces, and it is the very key needed to find the lost princess of the ancient kingdom of Kingdom Hearts. Meanwhile, the evil fairie Maleficent and her army, the Hellfire Organization, who are the controlling force behind the Darkhearts, seek to capture Ariel and her princess friends in order to use their purest hearts to open the gateway to the Dark Realm of Tartarus and achieve ultimate power. Taran soon discovers a strange scullery maid from his home kingdom named Eilonwy and falls head over heels for her, but finds that she is the lost princess needed for Maleficent's plans, as the faerie manipulates her head servant Ellidyr, the disgraced prince of Prydain, and Oswald, a former friend of Mickey's, into kidnapping her. Once the heroes catch up to the leadership of the organization, Maleficent's scheming adviser, the Wiseman, reveals the Dark Gate will not open because Eilonwy's heart was magically hidden inside Taran's body by a spell she cast on herself to hide from Maleficent's grasp. As Ellidyr is sent out to kill Taran and retrieve Eilonwy's heart by any means, it becomes clearly obvious that a dark shadow is using him just as it used Maleficent. The Wiseman is revealed to be an ancient demon lich named the Horned King, who was sealed away many ages ago by the gods of heaven for his attempt to control the worlds, but has now escaped due to the meddling of a group of unwittingly curious scientists, and has been the true mastermind behind the evil scheme the whole time, and it seemed as Ellidyr, in his own selfish pursuit of power to kill the brat who he believed had taken his rightful destiny away from him, had allowed the lich king to take his soul just for that power. In the end, Taran and Mickey are forced to put down Ellidyr for good, but Eilonwy remains locked in eternal slumber. Determined to save her at any cost, Taran is forced to kill himself by stabbing himself with the Horned King's own corrupted weapon, freeing Eilonwy's heart at the cost of his life and his heart. The princess awakens only to find her beloved turned into a helpless wraith for his efforts. Not wanting to lose the one man whose ever cared for her, she uses the light within her soul to save the boy and restore him seemingly back to normal. But the Horned King and his army of deathless warriors are still on the move, heading towards the Dark Depths to finish what they began and end their conquest over all of reality. Taran thus rallies the other heroes, who have also discovered the true power within each of themselves, to the final battle on Bald Mountain, where the lich summons all the forces of evil to try and due them in. Although the heroes are triumphant, the Dark Gate begins to open, and the most powerful flood of corrupted dark energy begins to flood out, for you see, what the Horned King knew all this time as he unlocked the door was that it had been connected to Kingdom Hearts, the heart of all existence. As Taran and the others struggle to close the door, Mickey chooses to make the ultimate sacrifice, jumping into the other side and pulling out the Keyblade of the dark realm to help his friends close the door from both sides. As he begins to vanish, the restored Ellidyr, who had accompanied the others to the final battle, requests of Taran to never lose sight of what really matters and to always take care of those he cherishes. The lad agrees as the door closes between them, and, using their keyblades, lock the Dark Gate for all time. As the door disappears and the worlds return to the way they once were, Taran vows to find Mickey and his way home. A new journey begins for the remaining survivors as they set off in search of their friends once more. But it's not long before they arrive at the stage of their adventure...at the ruins of the Jedi Temple in Castle Memoria. Worlds and Characters Playable *Ancient Celestial Plains of Heart *Disney-Land *100 Acre Wood *Traverse Town-Dog London-1910 Paris-Merlin's Cottage *Wonderland *Iron Forges of Stark Industries *Mt. Olympus *Madhya Pradesh *Gamma Desert *Agrabah *Prankster's Paradise-Monstro's Interior *Asgard *Sleepy Hollow-Halloween Town *Louisiana Bayou/Devil's Bayou *Atlantica *Post-War-Torn America *Neverland *The Enchanted Dominion *Bald Mountain Cutscenes Only *Deep Jungle - explains Tarzan's backstory *The Land of Dragons - playable only in Ariel's side of the story *Pride Lands - playable only in Ariel's side of the story *Le Cite' des Cloches *Le Chateau du Damne *Dwarf Woodlands *Castle of Dreams *Prydain Category:Fanfictions Category:The First Trilogy